Just friends?
by hardlyworking15
Summary: Future fic, Ashley and Spencer meet again after many years. Can they be just friends or will old and new feelings get in the way? I'll try to update at least once a week.  I don't own SoN or its characters.
1. And they meet

"Flight 149 to Phoenix is now boarding passengers in Group A. Group A is now boarding."

I vaguely heard the announcement coming from the opposite side of the terminal as I tried to calm the cranky 6-monh old in my lap.

"Here, try this," Danielle, my four year old niece, said, putting the pacifier into her little brother's mouth.

After a few moments of resistance, Max took pacifier and was happily sucking away and I was able to finally look up at the board for my flight information. I sighed in relief. We should be boarding within the next few minutes.

"Thank you, Dani. You're a miracle worker."

"No problem, auntie. I'm here to help." The impish little girl looked up at me with a smile that reminded me so much of her mother that my heart nearly skipped up a beat. I bit my lip and looked away to blink back my tears. It took a minute, but soon I was in control of my emotions once more and I looked down at the baby who was now sound asleep.

"Wow, what's in this thing? Bourbon?" I asked, tapping the colorful handle of the pacifier.

"What's Bourbon?" Danielle asked.

I felt a moment of panic as it hit me again that I was just not ready for this responsibility. I couldn't answer her because I'm pretty sure Child Protective Services wouldn't want me to be discussing alcoholic beverages with a four-year-old but then again, I hated adults who lied to kids or told them they'd know when they were older. Being a kid was brutal enough without having people treat you like you were stupid. So I decided to tell her the truth.

"Bourbon is a drink relaxes people."

"Oh."

With that, she went back to her coloring and I sat back, happy in the knowledge that dealing with children wasn't as hard as most people made it out to be. This would be a snap.

"Passengers on flight 87 to Los Angeles, we will now begin boarding first class. First class passengers only, please come, tickets in hand, to the attendant at the door."

"Hi, can I get some help? I'm in first class." Sitting very near to the door leading out to the plane, I nearly forgot about the sleeping baby in my lap as I scooted forward and raised my hand. And as my luck would have it, I must have jolted the baby because suddenly he was awake and wailing. "Shit."

I tapped my Driver's License impatiently against the rope keeping us travelers in line. I looked down at my watch as the line inched forward again. Twenty minutes until take off. Great. _Please, don't let them leave me. I cannot miss this flight. Lydia will kill me if I don't make it home tonight._

"Thank you," I said as I took back my license and hurried up the stairs looking for my terminal. I hurried down the long hallway looking for terminal C and nearly slumped in gratitude when I was that passengers were still being let onto the plane. I ran forward and handed over my boarding pass to the attendant.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Carlin. Your seat was given to a standby passenger."

"What? Why? I'm here." It was all I could do not to stomp me foot in frustration but the little voice of reason in my head that sounded suspiciously like Lydia admonished me that 29 year-old women don't do that. It's funny that Lydia was just the reason I could NOT let that plane take off without me.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we began boarding almost thirty minutes ago. Our policy dictates that-"

Not wanting to listen to him babble on about airline policy, I cut him off. "Are there no more seats? I'll sit on the floor if I have to."

"I don't believe so but I'll check."

I followed him to the console, praying that he would have good news for me. Someone up there must really like me or maybe they just felt the pain I would go through if I had to slit my wrists to escape Lydia's ranting.

"We do have one seat available in first class but I have to warn you. You'll be sitting next to a woman with kids."

"I'll take it. Do I have to pay for the upgrade?" I mentally did a little dance as he shook his head and began walking me back to the door.

"No, ma'am. This one will be on us because the way that kid was bawling, you'll be asking for a discount long before you leave New York."

I nearly laughed before I noticed that he was frightfully serious. I began to reconsider the idea that avoiding a shouting match with my girlfriend was worth being trapped next to a crying baby for hours.

I walked with dread toward the plane and more than ten feet from the door, I began to hear the crying. I handed over my carry-on to the stewardess who took my ticket and pointed me to a seat in the middle aisle where I could see a little girl, thump in her mouth, jumping up and down. Heaving a sigh, I walked forward and to my right I saw a dark-haired woman trying to rock a very loud baby to sleep. I looked to the little girl and smiled.

"May I get past you to sit down?"

She nodded, smiling shyly, as she moved to lean against the back of the chair. I scooted past her and sat down.

"Hi, my name is Danielle." She held out the hand that she had just pulled out of her mouth as she greeted me.

She was just so cute, I barely winced as I shook the hand that glistened with her saliva. "Hi, I'm Spencer. Nice to meet you."

"Spencer?"

A shock went through my body when I heard raspy and very shocked voice whisper my name. I looked past Danielle to the woman still unsuccessfully trying to calm the baby. I hadn't seen her in years but Ashley still had the ability to take my breath away. She was clearly haggard and she looked as if she hadn't slept in weeks, but she was gorgeous. We stared at each without speaking for a few seconds that felt like hours, our eyes roaming each hungrily, before Danielle tapped me on the shoulder.

I blinked twice before breaking my eyes away from Ashley and I looked at Danielle who was still standing on her seat.

"Do you have some Bourbon? My Auntie Ashley needs it to put the baby to sleep."

Shocked, I whipped my head back to Ashley who gasped audibly, her eyes widen nearly to the size of saucers.


	2. Some ground rules before take off

_Oh, my God._ I couldn't believe it was Spencer, my first girlfriend, Spencer. The girl who, at 16, I thought would always be in my life, always in my arms and forever in my heart. Unfortunately, that was not to be. She hadn't been in my life in nearly seven years or in my arms for longer than that. And though I have and will continue to deny it, I fear she will always be in my heart.

"Ashley, you're giving alcohol to a baby?" Spencer asked, shocked and appalled.

"No, of course not! I don't know where she got that from." I was rightfully indignant that she would believe that I would do something like that but I guess she and I both knew my maternal instinct was pretty nonexistent. Hopefully, that would change soon. Spencer still looked skeptical with her cute little brow furrowed so I tried another approach. "That's illegal, you know."

"I do know," Spencer said in a way that gave me the impression that she doubted my knowledge.

We stared at each other for a moment, until Max let out a particularly piercing screech. I guess I should have been grateful for the 30 seconds it had taken him to catch his breath but, boy, were my ears paying for it. I switched him into yet another position and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Spencer pulling out her iPOD and a magazine before placing her purse beneath the seat in front her.

I tried to entice Max into taking his pacifier but he wasn't having it. I let out a huge sigh of frustration which was echoed by nearly all of the other first class passengers, some of whom weren't shy in cutting their eyes in my direction while doing so.

"What's wrong with him…or her?" Spencer asked, looking at me over Danielle's head.

"I don't know!" I wailed. "His diaper's dry. He just ate, so he's not hungry. I know he's sleepy but he just won't go. Why is he so stubborn?"

"Did you burp him?"

"Did I what?" _What the hell is she talking about?_

"After you fed him, did he burp?"

"Eww, no."

"Well, he needs too." She stood and I gasped as I got a look at her legs in the short denim skirt she was wearing. _Damn, she looks good_. I swallowed as she bent to put her things on her seat and began to walk toward me, her right thigh peeking at me every time she stepped forward. "Give him to me. Ashley!"

I mentally kicked myself for I had been gaping at her body stupidly while she stood in front of me waiting impatiently for me to hand my nephew over. When I did so, my movements were so abrupt that I jolted little Max again. He didn't like it this time anymore than he had when I'd done it the first time. He bellowed even louder if that was possible.

Spencer soon had him over her shoulder, patting his back and shushing him as she began to pace up and down the short aisle. After a minute of that, Max's volume had lowered considerably and Spencer now stood in front of me swaying from side to side but keeping up her rhythmic patting. With each of side-to-side movements she made, the slit on the side of her skirt revealed to me what I had once claimed as mine. I turned away to subtlety check my lip for slop. _Jeez, Ash, you'd think you were the one who needed a bib._

Suddenly, Max let out a belch loud enough to make any man proud.

"Oh, that's just nasty," I said, my face scrunched up in distaste.

Spencer shot me what had to be her fourth look of disapproval in less than five minutes before turning back to the baby. "No, that's not nasty. That was a good one, huh? You're such a big boy. Didn't that feel good?"

As she cooed at the baby, I tried to squelch the jealousy I felt welling up within me. But to be honest, I couldn't pinpoint what exactly I was jealous of. I mean, how could I begrudge Spencer for finally shutting up a crying kid and I certainly didn't want Spencer congratulating me on my belching ability. Nonetheless, there was no denying what that pit in my stomach was.

"Ma'am," the flight attendant said, her hand on Spencer's shoulder, "we need all passengers to have a seat as we prepare for takeoff." She smiled appreciatively at Spencer and frowned at me before walking away. I barely suppressed the urge to flip her the bird behind her back but the impressionable Danielle was watching my every move.

I was caught totally unprepared when Spencer's scent filled my nostrils as she bent to place Max, who was happily dozing with his fist in his mouth, in my lap. I breathed in deeply.

_She smells so good. Stop it, Spencer! You have a girlfriend. You can't go around smelling other women._

I pulled back quickly and rushed back to my seat, safely buffered by the aisle and Danielle. Only, I could still smell her. Cinnamon and a spice that couldn't be bottled but one I'd recognize anywhere- ASHLEY. I closed my eyes and shook my head to clear it as I mentally laid down the ground rules for this brief encounter of the ex kind.

_Absolutely NO reminiscing. NO plans to meet up later. NO exchanging of contact information. AND STOP LOOKING AT HER!_

I jerked my eyes away and buckled myself into the seat. Determined not to resume my gawking, I locked my eyes on the flight attendant walking down the aisle, checking that everyone was secure in their seats. I turned to look at my seat mate and saw that she was coloring and not buckled in her seat.

"Danielle, do you know how to buckle your seat belt? Do you need some help?"

The little girl looked down at her waist and then up at me and I was struck by just how much she resembled her aunt with her pert nose and curly hair. She was sure to be a heartbreaker when she was older, again, just like her aunt.

Danielle nodded her head vigorously. "I don't know how."

"Okay, I'll help." After buckling Danielle in, I received a very wet kiss on the cheek for my efforts. And though I told myself not to, I couldn't resist returning her kiss with one in the center of her forehead. I barely caught myself from rubbing my hand over her unruly hair. _You will not get attached to these kid!._

Ashley must have seen my action because when I looked up she's was staring at me with a sad expression that told me that she understood. She blinked and just that quickly, whatever she was thinking was hidden away.

"Thank you," she mouthed with hardly a whisper.

"No problem," I responded with a look at the baby settled in the car seat next to her. "How is he?"

She gave him a glance that was so loving that it wrenched my heart. _She used to look at me that way. Stop it, damn it!_

"He's finally asleep. He hasn't been sleeping well at all since…" Her breath caught and she bit her lip, clearly holding back tears.

My chest expanded when I pulled in a harsh breath, my mind immediately drawing logical conclusions that offered zero comfort.

"Is…"

I quickly looked down at Danielle who was watching the two of us intently. I turned back to Ashley just in time to see her hastily wipe a tear from her cheek. She shook her head miserably and I had to fight the urge to go to her, a fight so strong it reminded me of how I had once fought for us. And just as I was giving in, I heard the pilot begin to speak and I knew it was fate stepping in to prevent our merciless cycle from continuing.


	3. Exracurricular activities

_Spencer's heart dropped and shuttered along with the plane as it flew through turbulence. She kept her eyes tightly closed and her knuckles were white due to the tight grip she had on the armrests. She let out a little tortured laugh when a warm hand began to make its way under her shirt._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_I would think that would be obvious," Ashley said seductively before taking Spencer's earlobe between her teeth._

_Spencer chuckled awkwardly again and made an attempt to grab Ashley's wandering hand. She had a change of heart when the plane made another sudden dip. She held tight to the armrest._

_The hand on Spencer's stomach felt each shudder as the girl took deep calming breaths. Ashley opened her right eye and looked down at Spencer's hand. Ashley swirled her tongue around the crest of Spencer's ear._

"_You know if you don't loosen that grip, you'll lose circulation."_

"_Thanks for the advice. Mm. Uh, weren't you sitting next to Kyla? And where did Madison go?"_

"_The two of them wanted to discuss shoes are something so I very generously gave up my seat."_

"_Yeah and I'm sure you're getting nothing out of that. Oh, God, stop," Spencer moaned._

_Ashley traced kisses down Spencer jaw before nipping at her neck._

"_Why? So you can concentrate on the turbulence? Isn't this taking your mind off of your fear, just a little bit?" Ashley smiled as Spencer moaned again._

_Spencer might have responded but whatever she might have said was muffled by Ashley's mouth. All thoughts of plummeting to her death were swept away as Spencer was engulfed in Ashley. Spencer submitted to Ashley's dominance and was engulfed by the heat._

_Ashley took the time to explore Spencer's mouth and it was just like the first time. Nearly two years into their relationship, Ashley didn't think she would ever grow tired of kissing her love. She couldn't hold back a moan as Spencer tongue began a duel with her own. Not willing to giver up control of the kiss, Ashley sucked Spencer into her mouth._

Snap, snap.

_Ashley didn't let Spencer's bottom lip escape her teeth though she opened her eyes to see who was rudely interrupting her makeout session. Chelsea, who was across the aisle, curled up in her seat and wrapped up tightly in a blanket, was trying to get their attention._

"_You guys aren't exactly quiet and less hormone driven people are trying to sleep."_

_Spencer grabbed Ashley's shoulders and extended her arms, effectively breaking Ashley's desperate hold. "Sorry, Chels."_

_Chelsea grimaced before adjusting her pillow and turning away._

"_Hater."_

_Spencer smiled at Ashley's pouting. She thumbed Ashley's lower lip._

"_Stop pouting, it's not like you were going to get any at 15 thousand feet."_

"_Who says?"_

_Spencer lifted an eyebrow at Ashley, confused._

"_I think your college applications are missing a very important extra-curricular activity- The Mile High Club."_

_Shocked, Spencer whispered furiously, "No, we are so not about to have sex."_

_Not one for arguing, Ashley made a dive Spencer's neck, immediately licking and nibbling. "Come on, baby. It'll be so good."_

"_We can't," Spencer whispered, weakly._

"_Sure, we can." Ashley heard the intrigue in Spencer voice and she knew victory was near. "Meet me in the restroom."_

"_No, Ashley, people will see us both of us go in there."_

_Ashley began to pay careful attention to Spencer collarbone, dipping the tip of her tongue in and dragging her teeth across the bone._

"_God…okay, okay, what do we do?"_

_Spencer stood nervously in the very cramped space. She would pace but she the foot of space didn't allow for that. _This is crazy, _Spencer thought._ The entire senior class is less than four feet outside this door and I'm about to have sex next to a toilet. Yeah, this is romantic.

_Despite her skepticism, Spencer excitedly opened the door at her girlfriend "secret" knock. She had to lean against the wall to avoid getting hit by the door but Ashley made it into the room without any harm coming to either of them._

"_Ash, this isn't a good idea. We're in a toilet, for G—" Spencer let out a moan as she was shoved against the wall and kissed thoroughly._


End file.
